So you’ve made it to QuickBooks Connect 2016 and there’s a hall full of exhibitors – nearly 120 apps. And one robot, pictured above, that makes cocktails. (Nice one, Avalara.)
There are 28 categories of apps at QuickBooks Connect, so if you’re wandering the halls you may not find the information you need. Which ones should you check out?
The answer depends on what you want to address in your own business, or your clients’. There are four categories that are really important for accountants and bookkeepers. Check out the apps in each category below, or scroll to the bottom for a list of all apps by category.
Reporting
The most popular category (10 apps) is apps for reporting and forecasting. Advanced reporting is one of the best new revenue streams for accountants and bookkeepers to offer to clients. Budgeting, three-way scenarios, cash flow planning – these are high-value activities that many clients will be happy to pay for.
At the top of the tree is Fathom, named last year as one of the four biggest reporting apps in the Intuit ecosystem. Spotlight Reporting is another great reporting app that has a big following in the UK, New Zealand and Australia.
Several apps have unique twists such as mobile dashboards (StatX), business plans (LivePlan), and CFO advice (My Own CFO).
Practice Management
There haven’t been that many options for using cloud apps to run your practice. Even at an accounting conference there are only five that fit the category.
The newest app in the lineup is Karbon, which started on fixing email overload for accountants and is expanding this year into workflow management.
For firms that want to automate their onboarding and ready for fixed fees and value pricing, Practice Ignition is a CRM-style app well worth checking out.
Aero covers workflow in accounting practices and includes a library of basic processes. LexisNexis Firm Manager is a practice management tool for legal firms that has made the transition to accountants.
My Workpapers is another new app that made its mark first with auditors and now provides electronic worksheets for accountants.
Document Management
There are just three apps in this category for managing files, either QuickBooks or all documents. SmartVault is well known to many accountants already as a solid option for managing documents.
Citrix ShareFile has launched an edition for accountants that includes e-signatures and can send large files via encrypted email through Outlook.
QBox is mainly for accountants with lots of desktop files – if you’re in the cloud you won’t need this one.
Data Sync
Four apps in this category worth checking out. Why is data so important? Because accountants need to move from counting just the dollars to other types of numbers. Knowing how to centralize and analyze different data types such as inventory items, viewers, invoices, customers and leads will be an invaluable service to your clients.
OneSaas has been around for a long time and is a dependable app for streaming data into your accounting program. Maestrano is similar in concept but adds a dashboard and tries to centralize your app management.
CData specializes in the development of drivers and data access technologies for real-time access to online or on-premise applications, databases, and Web APIs.
ZedAxis is an all-in-one data import and export utility for QuickBooks desktop, QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks POS.
Here’s the full list of apps at QuickBooks Connect, listed by category. If you’re looking on behalf of your clients you could also check out CRMs, shipping and eCommerce, accounts payable and project management.
App | Category |
Bill.com | Accounts Payable |
Hubdoc | Accounts Payable |
MineralTree | Accounts Payable |
Payable | Accounts Payable |
XTBills | Accounts Payable |
CapitalOne | Banking |
NetSpend | Banking |
ProRata | Billing & Invoicing |
Quotient | Billing & Invoicing |
Insightly | CRM |
LegrandCRM | CRM |
Method | CRM |
Results | CRM |
Salespad | CRM |
ShopVox | CRM |
Cdata | Data Sync |
Maestrano | Data Sync |
OneSaas | Data Sync |
ZedAxis | Data Sync |
Citrix ShareFile | Document Management |
Qbox | Document Management |
SmartVault | Document Management |
PropelWare | eCommerce |
ShipStation | eCommerce |
Shopify | eCommerce |
SPS Commerce | eCommerce |
Webgility | eCommerce |
Neat | Expense Management |
AutoEntry | Expense Management |
Concur | Expense Management |
Entryless | Expense Management |
Expensify | Expense Management |
Receipt Bank | Expense Management |
Tallie | Expense Management |
Fleetmatics | Field Service Management |
Intuit Field Service Management | Field Services Management |
Jobber | Field Services Management |
Kickserv | Field Services Management |
SimPRO | Field Services Management |
BlueVine factoring | Funding & Credit |
Fundbox | Funding & Credit |
NOW | Funding & Credit |
Smartbiz | Funding & Credit |
GoBenefits | Human Resources |
Dear Inventory | Inventory |
Manudyn | Inventory |
MISys | Inventory |
SOS Inventory | Inventory |
Canon | IT Hardware |
ScanSnap | IT Hardware |
Fishbowl | IT Services |
Out of the Box | IT Services |
Wren Group | IT Services |
BizSlate | Manufacturing |
Broadly.com | Marketing |
Constant Contact | Marketing |
Freshlime | Marketing |
ApprovalMax | Other |
Asset.Guru | Other |
CPA.com | Other |
Moody’s Analytics | Other |
PayPal | Payment Processing |
Visa | Payment Processing |
American Express | Payments Processing |
TransferMate | Payments Processing |
Exact+ | Payroll |
Gusto | Payroll |
Zenefits | Payroll |
Square | Point of Sale |
Aero | Practice Management |
Karbon | Practice Management |
LexisNexis Firm Manager | Practice Management |
MyWorkpapers – Connect | Practice Management |
Practice Ignition | Practice Management |
Google G Suite | Productivity |
Zoho | Productivity |
17Hats | Project Management |
Knowify | Project Management |
RedTeam | Project Management |
Q Hero | QBO conversions |
1Dash | Reporting |
CXOSoft | Reporting |
Fathom | Reporting |
Fiscal Checkup | Reporting |
Float | Reporting |
LivePlan | Reporting |
My Own CFO | Reporting |
QVinci | Reporting |
Spotlight Reporting | Reporting |
StatX | Reporting |
71 Lbs Shipping refunds | Shipping |
Atandra | Shipping |
B2B Gateway | Shipping |
EDI.works | Shipping |
Handshake | Shipping |
NeoPost | Shipping |
TrueCommerce | Shipping |
Avalara | Tax Tool |
EFile4Biz.com | Tax Tool |
Tax1099.com | Tax Tool |
AMG | Time Tracking |
BigTime Software | Time Tracking |
ClockShark | Time Tracking |
Deputy | Time Tracking |
MinuteDock | Time Tracking |
Nexonia | Time Tracking |
TSheets | Time Tracking |